i recorded the vocal for “LET OUT” at 11 AM at the WAYout, which also happened to be my sixth floor apartment in Parkdale.

As i finished, play back was interrupted by a pounding at my door. The Russian gentleman who had moved in downstairs had decided to come on hard in an attempt to shut me up.

At about the point it was either fist fight or peace, i invited him inside. He took a step in, looked around, inhaled deep and exhaled deeper, and said “I’m sorry, … it is not you, it is this shit hole”. Then quickly adds, “sorry if I offend”.

i laughed. No big speakers, no loud system. Just an accoustic guitar, a snare and some percussion. A mic and an 8-track. Loud voice and thin walls.

“I used to make music…but not like this” he said.

We came to an agreement. He and his wife worked opposite shifts, and both struggled to sleep. I promised to record during the hours they weren’t.

A roach crawled by, the Russian wished me “good luck in getting out of here”. Then he was gone.

He left the building a few months later. I didn’t.

I took the 8-track recordings to King West Studio and recorded another layer of drums.

“LET OUT” has remained tucked away with the rest of “thin.KING. SOON COME”, the album i recorded while part of District Six Music. My Parkdale era.